GORHAM — Trading his usual jeans and sweatshirt for a blue dress shirt and red necktie, Shawn Moody announced at his business headquarters here Tuesday his candidacy as a Republican for Maine governor.

“How’s this tie look?” Moody, with rolled up sleeves, said in his opening remarks.

Moody’s announcement was held in a community room packed with supporters and media at Moody’s Collision Center on Narragansett Street.

“I’m a common-sense conservative,” Moody told the crowd. “That’s the way I’m going to lead.”

Moody advocated growth for the state. “It’s time for Mainers to get ahead,” he said. “Mainers are tired of just getting by. We’re going to grow.”

Jon Shaw, co-owner of Shaw Brothers Construction, lauded Moody in introductory remarks. He said Moody has a huge heart and could always put himself in other people’s shoes. “He’s a conservative with money,” Shaw said.

The room filled with supporters included Bob Crowley, a past winner of the TV reality show “Survivor.” Crowley said Moody is well-spoken, well-mannered, and a nice guy. “He’s a genuine Mainer,” Crowley said.

Moody, 57, founded a chain of collision centers, now with 11 locations in Maine. He started in business in 1977 as a senior before graduating from Gorham High School. The business now employs 180 people, who are collectively co-worker owners.

In other ventures as an entrepreneur in his hometown, Moody has purchased the former Gorham Racetrack near his headquarters on Narragansett Street with plans to develop the 62-acre site. He has also launched a vegetable farm on New Portland Road.

Moody and his wife, Christina, have been married 30 years and both are from families with deep roots in Gorham. They have four adult children and two granddaughters.

Moody ran unsuccessfully as an independent candidate for governor in 2010 in a big field. He received about 25,000 votes statewide, for about 5 percent of the vote.

Earlier this year, Moody joined the Republican Party.

James Means of the Gorham Republican Committee commented before Moody’s announcement.

“If Shawn Moody, a Republican, decides to run for governor, the Gorham Republican Committee will be enthusiastically supporting such an excellent candidate, along with others that declare their intentions, through the primary process,”  Means said in an email.

“I think we are extremely fortunate to have several excellent candidates (including Shawn if he so decides) who will be making their case to Maine Republicans who will choose by voting  next spring who they want to succeed Gov. LePage.

“Once that happens, the Gorham Republican Party will be supporting the next governor who will continue to move Maine forward.”

The gubernatorial race after the June 2018 party primaries could result in two candidates with Gorham connections. If successful in the primaries, Moody on the Republican side could face either of two Democratic candidates – former Maine Sen. James Boyle, 59, or the state’s Attorney General Janet Mills, 69, if one prevails in June.

Boyle is a Gorham resident and Mills’ family once lived several years in Gorham.

The race is crowded and other Democrats include Adam Cote, Mark Dion, Patrick Eisenhart, Mark Eves, Diane Russell, Betsy Sweet and J. Martin Vachon.

Repulican gubernatorial candidates include Kenneth Fredette, Garrett Mason, Mary Mayhew, and Michael Thibodeau.

Independent candidates include Alan Caron, Terry Hayes and John Jenkins.

The Green party has Jay Dresser and Betsy Marsano.

Richard Light is the Libertarian candidate.

But, Moody hopes to become the third Maine governor with ties to Gorham. Frederick Robie was governor 1883-87 and Percival Baxter, 1921-1924.

Robert Lowell can be reached at 854-2577 or rlowell@keepmecurrent.com.

Gorham’s Shawn Moody Tuesday opens his campaign for governor.